


Of Courage and Immortality

by Laily



Series: All My Frostiron : In Love & War [4]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Assassination Plot(s), Drama, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt Loki (Marvel), Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mention of anxiety disorder, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Protective Loki (Marvel), Protective Tony Stark, Romance, Sick Loki (Marvel), Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:36:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26972272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laily/pseuds/Laily
Summary: There is a bounty on Tony Stark's head, and Loki of Asgard will keep on protecting him...until he can't.Whumptober 2020 Alt Prompt #14 Fill: ShotWhumptober 2020 Prompt #22 Fill: Do These Tacos Taste Funny To You (Poisoned)
Relationships: Loki & Stephen Strange, Loki/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Stephen Strange
Series: All My Frostiron : In Love & War [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1976677
Comments: 45
Kudos: 168
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	1. Chapter 1

The first time Tony realised someone was after him (like, really _really_ out to get him) was when they discovered a bomb in his car. Of course, Tony used the term ‘they’ loosely; Loki deserved all the credit after all, for it was his keen sense of smell that had alerted them that something was wrong.

“What is that _smell?_ ” Loki asked the moment he got into the car.

“I don’t smell anything.”

“Of course you don’t.” Loki pressed the tips of his fingers to his temple as if nauseated. “No, this is something completely new...”

“Well, what can you smell?” Tony leaned over and sniffed. No, it was not Happy’s new cologne either. “Ooh. La Nuit de L'Homme. Classic. Hot date?”

The mildly horrified expression on Loki’s face was priceless for its scarcity; hardly anything came as a surprise to his centuries-old boyfriend anymore, presumably from having lived so long…but Loki had never dated someone like Tony Stark before. Tony must make a good impression every time if he wished to keep Loki. Thor had been quite clear with his directives.

Asgardians had high standards. So did Tony Stark, and he couldn’t have his car smelling like

“Graveyard soil,” Loki answered slowly. Then his eyes abruptly widened. “Get out.”

“What?”

“Get out. Out, _out!_ ” With an inhuman strength and speed, Loki manhandled both Tony and Happy out and onto the sidewalk and conjured a geodesic seiðr dome around the car in all of five seconds. Judging from the explosion that erupted not a microsecond later, it would have levelled the entire block had it not been contained within the magical barrier of Loki’s shield.

Tony watched the burning remains of his limousine with as much fascination as chagrin. “Hey. I left the invitation in the car.”

His knees felt wobbly, and there was a stinging sensation on his cheek. He wrapped an arm around Loki’s stiff back, needing the support but lacking the audacity to ask for it. “Looks like we get to stay in after all.”

“You are bleeding,” Loki said flatly, golden flames dancing in his eyes. He stared hard at the burning rubble before him as if listening to something in the fire only he could hear.

Happy shook himself out of his stunned reverie. He handed Tony a handkerchief, gesturing toward the cut on his friend's cheek where a shard of debris had found its mark. “Here, Boss.”

Ammonium nitrate was what the investigators later said was used, but the extremely high heat had incinerated almost every shred of forensic evidence that could have told them if the bomb was homemade or commercial. It could have even been military-grade, considering who the intended victim was.

“You’re very lucky,” the chief inspector had said, with a tone of suspicion Tony almost found insulting. “How did you know?”

“Lady Luck was on my side I guess,” had been Tony’s vague answer. The fury had yet to leave Loki’s eyes and any attempt at conversation had been reduced to monosyllables. Even Tony’s lame joke about how Loki could give cadaver dogs a run for their money fell flat.

It did not help matters when they found none other than Doctor Stephen Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme waiting for them upon their return to the Tower, demanding an explanation for the sudden surge of magic in broad daylight Manhattan.

“Don’t you read the news? It’s all over Twister!” Loki had snarled before storming off to their shared apartments, leaving behind a trail of soot-stained boot prints on the floor.

“Twitter,” Stephen muttered under his breath. “What’s going on, Stark?”

“Oh, you know. Board meeting, lots of shouting, lots of screaming, missed lunch, bomb in the car, car blew up. Just your typical day.” Tony headed straight for the bar. Usually he would wait until the good doctor had left, but Tony needed a stiff drink, and he needed it now. He could not pour one fast enough, and downed his shot in one go, barely feeling the burn of harsh liquor. “Want one?”

Stephen looked at his friend’s trembling hand. “You alright?”

“Never better.” Tony wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “I’m alive, aren’t I?”

“Any ideas?”

“On who could have done it?” Tony shrugged. “I can think of ten people off the top of my head who wouldn't mind seeing me all roasted and crispy. Hard to settle on one.”

Stephen shook his head. “Who the bomb was _for.”_

Tony stilled. Now that Stephen mentioned it… “You think Loki was the intended target?”

“I don’t know, hence why I am asking. He is…accessible.” Stephen gave him a look. “Now.”

Tony laughed. “Are you implying what I think you are?”

Stephen only regarded Tony silently.

“If someone’s out to get Loki through me, I hardly think a bomb would be the weapon of choice.” Tony met Stephen’s gaze with a suspicious look of his own. “I didn’t even know you cared.”

“I don’t ‘ _care_ ’ beyond the ever-critical need to protect the Earth against threats from other realms and let’s face it,” Stephen quirked an eyebrow, “Your latest conquest happened to _be_ from another realm. So must, I presume, most of his enemies.”

“There is no ‘ _latest_ ’ about Loki,” Tony irritably mimicked Stephen’s air quotes. “If you must know, Loki and I are – ”

“Sort it out, Stark. The Sanctum will be on high alert so there _will_ be some interference, magically speaking. Do inform your dearest houseguest for me.”

He levelled a parting glance at the shot glass in Tony’s hand. “And try to keep your eyes open. If you can manage it.”

With those last words and a dramatic whoosh, Stephen gathered his billowing cloak and swept out of the room like the dramatic ass that he was.

“Ass,” Tony muttered.

*************

“What sort of interference?”

“Uhm, the magical kind?”

“What does that mean?” Loki demanded. “Didn’t you ask?”

No, I was too busy drinking my weight in scotch, Tony was tempted to say, but he did not want to have to sleep alone tonight if he could help it. Blame must be diverted, and diverted with tact.

“You know that cryptic bastard, he’s really not a wordy kind of guy,” Tony attempted said diversion. “Before I could, he just took off.”

Loki huffed.

“You could just ask him?” Tony suggested half-heartedly.

Loki huffed again. “Me? Ask him? Why would I – ” then a solid, “No.”

Tony reached across the space between the bed and the window where Loki had been pacing for the good part of the last hour and grabbed a bony wrist as it passed, pulling its restless owner onto the mattress.

He began massaging the back of Loki’s neck.

“He’d better not be messing around with my magic, Stark, or I will – _hngh_ ,” Loki grunted when Tony hit a particularly sore spot, groaning as his lover kneaded circles into the area gently with his practiced thumb.

“Shhh.” Tony soothed, focused on feeling the knots along the muscles. His fingers could see better with his eyes closed. “I’ll ask him tomorrow, alright?”

Loki made an unintelligible noise of derision.

“You’re very tense.”

“You’re imagining things,” Loki mumbled. “Any news from your police people?”

“They’re following up on a few leads,” Tony said vaguely. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Loki hummed. “Does it happen often?”

“What does?”

“Someone trying to kill you.”

“Aside from you, you mean?” Tony leaned forward to kiss the back of Loki’s neck.

Loki hummed again, this time in pleasure. “That was a silly question, wasn’t it?” After a while, “Aren’t you curious, though?”

“About what?” Tony began his opening act by nibbling on the soft cartilage of Loki’s ear, something he could get away with only when Loki was very distracted.

“The explosive?”

“Strange thinks it could have been meant for you.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“As you know, I’m a very handsome young man with legions of fans, and the fact that we’re dating…” Tony hesitated, foreseeing an eruption, “Makes you an easy target, and he has no choice but to babysit.”

“Why, that arrogant, pestiferous, second-rate _charlatan!_ ” Loki fumed, but Tony, more or less attuned to Loki’s cantankerous mannerisms by now, was quick to grab the flailing arms from behind and pinning them to Loki’s chest.

He buried his face in between Loki’s shoulder blades and mumbled, “Are we really going to spend the whole night talking about Strange?”

“No. No, I guess not.” Loki took a few deep breaths to regain his composure. “I am merely…worried.”

“About him? He can’t do anything to you, Lokes. Not anymore.” _I won’t let it._

Tony could feel the intensity of Loki’s glare even if he could not see it.

“He couldn’t even if he tried.” A sneer. “Fledglings like him were ten-a-penny back on Asgard.”

“Let me guess. They all worshipped the ground you walked on?” Tony asked lightly.

Loki’s sneer vanished. “You speak of a place that no longer exists. And you have seen those who survived. They are not very many.”

Well, shit. It was a touchy subject with Loki, and Tony just went and walked over it like a landmine.

“If it’s not him, then what?”

“You know what.”

Tony laughed. “Loki, I’m fine. Thanks to you!”

“My point exactly. What if I had not been there?”

“My point exactly. You _were_.”

“That is true.” Loki let out a mirthless laughter. Then a thoughtful look settled over his features. “I have never concerned myself overmuch with what-ifs before.”

“What changed?” Tony asked.

Loki turned his head to meet Tony’s gaze, but met his lips instead. It was a daring move on Tony’s part, but they did escape death today; if he wanted to kiss Loki unsolicited, he was just going to wing it.

“You Midgardians,” Loki managed in the split-second they parted for a quick breath, “I will only entertain questions you don’t already know the answer to.”

“What I want to know…” Now that Loki was thrust on his back, snugly ensconced in his mountain of pillows, Tony wasted no time straddling his inamorato, his latest conquest as Stephen Strange had so vulgarly put it –

He had never seen anything or anyone quite as exquisite. “ – is if I’m going to get lucky tonight.”

Loki smirked. “Am I not your Lady Luck Incarnate?”

*****************

Indeed Loki was.

Not that Tony did not appreciate waking up to a warm, fully-sated body next to him as opposed to the empty bed he was more used to, Loki’s reluctance to leave his side spoke volumes.

“Thor will be fine. He needs to learn how to manage without me.”

“You don’t sound very sure,” Tony chided, doing the buttons on his shirt as quickly as he could. He had a meeting to get to and he was already thirty minutes beyond fashionably late. He prided himself on being fastidious and the last thing he needed was for the whole world to learn that he was slacking.

“He has the Valkyrie to run his kingly business for him. My absence will not be as sorely felt,” Loki said pointedly.

Tony paused in the middle of fastening his cufflinks. “That’s very sweet, darling, but you do know who I am, right? I don’t need another bodyguard.”

“Of course you don’t. The ones you have are useless.”

“Did I tell you I was kidnapped once when I was in Afghanistan? I managed to escape all by myself.”

Loki’s voice was flat. “Like I said. Useless.”

And they were.

No sooner had he stepped out of the brand-new replacement car onto the sidewalk outside Stark Industries than he found himself pushed onto the sidewalk once more.

I’m really done for this time, he thought dimly, his head ringing from the knock it had taken against the hard concrete. He was lying on something sticky too, the metallic tang in the air unmistakeable. Blood.

Yep, he sighed inwardly. His luck had run out. Someone had taken a potshot at him and finally succeeded.

“Suit up, Stark,” Loki barked. “The sniper’s still out there somewhere. I can’t go after him if you’re still wide open!”

Several more shots rang out, but by then Happy and Loki had dragged him inside the building. Tony heard Happy grunt. “Happy?”

“Kevlar, Boss. I’m okay.”

Tony’s breath left him in a giant whoosh, but suspicion still lingered. “If you didn’t get hit, then who’s bleeding all over me?”

Neither of his companions answered.

“Loki?”

“It’s nothing. Just a graze.”

“Just a – ” Tony cursed aloud. He pushed Loki’s arms away with hardly any effort at all. “Where are you hit?”

“Tony…”

“Where are you hit?” Tony’s voice had risen in pitch.

“Arm,” Loki answered reluctantly.

“And?” Tony demanded.

After a much longer pause, “Side.”

Tony cursed again.

“It’s just a flesh wound, Tony. I’ll survive.”

“Like I haven’t heard that one before,” Tony deadpanned. He forced himself to look away from Loki’s pasty face and turned toward his Head of Security. “Happy.”

“On it, Boss.”

***************

“Bullets were through and through,” Doctor Stephen Strange announced his diagnosis minutes later once they were safely sequestered in one of the panic rooms in the building. He then proceeded to give his prognosis with more disappointment than Loki would have liked. “The one in your flank didn’t hit any of the major organs so…you’ll live.”

Loki gritted his teeth. “Did you really have to call him here, Stark?”

“I didn’t!” Tony protested his innocence for the hundredth time.

“I told you I would be watching,” Stephen said, putting the last layer of dressing over the wound under Loki’s ribs. He listened to the ruckus outside as security personnel and police officers scoured the vicinities for the perpetrator. As expected, he or she had vanished without a trace. “Still think this was just a hooligan prank? A gang initiation, some yob out to make a name for himself on the street?”

“It wasn’t?” Tony deadpanned.

Stephen studied one of the badly misshapen, spent rounds. “The slugs have some kind of special alloy imbued in their core. That’s why they were strong enough to penetrate your armour.”

At Tony’s disbelieving look, Stephen resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “I was a surgeon, Stark. I’ve done my time fishing bullets out of people’s bodies. I know what I’m talking about.”

He reluctantly addressed his next question at his reluctant patient. “I assume you did not have time to put up a magical shield?”

Loki refused to meet anybody’s eyes.

Tony stared at his lover in horror. “So someone _is_ after you.”

Loki reared his head sharply. “Will you stop being an idiot? Whoever this is, he’s after _you_ , not me.” His voice grew hard. “Tell him, Strange.”

“I’m afraid I have to agree. If these bullets were strong enough to pierce Asgardian metal, then they are strong enough to penetrate your suit, Tony.”

“Doesn’t mean shit,” Tony stubbornly said.

“There was no residual foreign magic detected at both crime scenes, today and yesterday,” Stephen said matter-of-factly. “And as you astutely deduced the last time we spoke, the method of choice made it more likely that you were the intended target.”

“I may have said that, I admit it, but I have been wrong before.” Tony sniffed. “I don’t like to admit it, but I have.”

“Oh good. Then the red dot I saw on the back of your head, that must have just been a product of my overactive imagination,” Loki chirped, fake smile and all. 

“What?” Tony’s mouth fell open.

“Laser?” Stephen inquired sharply.

For someone who had just been shot, Loki was particularly nimble; he shot out of his chair, stuck a hand down Tony’s jacket and pointed the laser pointer he had just nicked out of the breast pocket dead centre at Tony’s forehead. “Bang.”

“Well, shit.” Tony wished he had a drink in his hand.

“Whoever it is, he seems to want you eliminated quickly. Didn’t even give you so much as a breather,” Stephen commented. “Hence, my question again. Who wants you dead the most?”

Tony drew a blank. “Honestly? I don’t know. I have been on my best behaviour, I swear.”

“No secret projects, no prototypes up for grab by the highest bidder? No Jericho Missile redux?”

“Those days are behind me, Strange,” Tony said snappishly. “I’m a philanthropist now. I sell candles. Bath salts. Check out the gift shop on your way out.”

He noticed Loki hiding a smile, and added for good measure, “I’m a lover, not a killer.”

This time, Stephen did roll his eyes. “Right.” He spent the next few seconds gathering his clinical waste and medical supplies. “Well, I’d keep a low-profile if I were you. We wouldn’t want this to become a diplomatic incident, would we?”

Tony groaned aloud. There was no way this would not reach Thor.

As if on cue, his personal mobile rang. “Shit. Yeah?” With a rush of relief, “Hey, Paul. You heard? Uhuh.” A pause. “Guess we’ll have to defer the votes till later. Next week? Sure, I’ll have my secretary reschedule. Next week’s fine.”

If I’m still alive, Tony neglected to say. He hung up the phone.

“Not Thor,” he said helpfully to the expectant faces around him.

“We thought as much,” Loki jibed, a tad too gleefully for Tony’s liking.

"Votes?” For Stephen Strange was nothing if not observant and a bit of a busybody.

“You know how I’ve been dabbling in pharmaceuticals?” At Stephen’s nod, Tony could not help but feel a glow of pride. “So you must have heard of the new drug we’re releasing for the treatment of PTSD? I mean, it’s FDA-approved for a few other anxiety-related conditions but mostly PTSD.”

“Yes.” Stephen nodded his head again slowly. “Finally something that isn’t SSRI-based, a miracle drug...or so I heard. Something that doesn’t have to be taken long-term in order for it work.”

Tony agreed. “Exactly. I mean, I don’t know the whole psychobabble BS or the pharmacology behind it, but the idea is the minute you feel an attack coming, you take a pill and that’s you sorted.”

“To be taken PRN.” Stephen lifted an impressed eyebrow. He was familiar with the concept after all. “That is really something. If it works.”

“Of course it does,” Tony said, his nostrils flaring in indignation. “PRN?”

“Pro re nata,” Loki supplied helpfully. “To be taken when necessary.”

Now both Stephen’s eyebrows were raised. “You know Latin.”

“I get by,” Loki shrugged modestly. The barest flicker of understanding passed between the two sorcerers before they both looked away abruptly.

“Yes, as I was saying, not that it is that big of a deal, the board members were supposed to convene today to finalise some business decisions. You know, distribution, marketing, et cetera et cetera.”

Tony’s eyes lit up. “Hey, hey, this means I’m free till next week. That’s plenty of time to do some investigating on my own.” Before anyone could object, he quickly added “I am not going to sit around waiting for the next hit to come like a sitting duck.”

“Then I shall inform my dear Brother that I will not be returning to New Asgard anytime soon,” Loki said.

“Yes, you will.”

“I do as I please.”

“I don’t doubt it, but the answer’s still no. I can’t see you get hurt like that again.”

“What, this?” Loki gestured at his rapidly healing wounds. “Tony, it’s just a – ”

“Graze, yeah. You’ve said.” Tony’s brown eyes hardened. “Answer’s still no.”

“No?” A dangerous smile.

“Loki.”

“Stark,” Loki mimicked.

“Okay!” Stephen clapped his hands loudly. “Sorry to interrupt the lovers’ spat but I need to be off. Things to do, reality to protect and all that jazz. Lay low, or don’t lay low, totally your choice. Just try not to get yourself killed. At least, not on a Sunday coz that’s my only day off.”

He turned to Loki, who unconsciously straightened his stance as if readying for battle. “And as for you, Your Highness…I have half a mind to lock you away in the Mirror Dimension till this whole thing blows over – “

Loki’s face turned white. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Stephen was not fazed in the slightest. “BUT you'd be happy to know that you have free rein of your magic as far as protecting yourself and this idiot is concerned.”

“Hey!”

“My only advice is do it with a bit of finesse and…try not to blow up anything.”

With a dramatic flourish, the Sorcerer Supreme disappeared from what was easily the most secure bunker outside an active warzone anywhere in the world.

“Finesse.” A sinister chuckle. “ _Finesse.”_

Tony watched in growing trepidation as a dark aura began to engulf his Ice Prince like a shroud. “Now, now, Loki…”

“Now can I kill him?” Loki asked sweetly.

******************

Unsurprisingly, Loki’s mood did not lighten. In between Tony’s many phone calls and Thor’s barrage of messages (none of which Loki had bothered to answer) all the noise of modern technology was giving him a headache, on top of the residual stinging in his arm and side. His finger tapped a restless staccato on the armrest as he waited impatiently for Tony to finish dictating the last set of instructions to his secretary.

“Oh, and you know that thing I ordered from that – yes, last week. Is it in? Could you check? And if it is, could you tell them to send it over? I don’t think I’ll be able to come over to pick it up.”

“Sure thing, Mr Stark.”

“Thanks, Katherine.” He gave her a wink. “And please. Call me Tony. We’re all family here.”

Loki rolled his eyes. “Are you finished?”

“Bored, darling? You should have asked Katherine here for a magazine. She’s new but she can tell you where we keep the nice things around here. I think we even have cookies. We do have cookies, don’t we, Kathy? May I call you Kathy?”

Katherine blushed.

“Stark,” Loki said warningly. “Please stop terrorising the help.”

“Now that sounds like something your brother would say,” Tony mused. “Speaking of Point Break, I really think that you would be better off – ”

“Will you stop?” Loki demanded, having finally had enough of Tony’s pestering and cajoling. “I am not going back to Asgard, and that is final.”

Tony opened his mouth to object,

“One more word that isn’t ‘Yes, Loki’ and I will walk,” Loki threatened. And just in case Tony was too busy coming up with more arguments in his head instead of listening, Loki tapped his finger delicately against the glowing object on his lover’s chest.

“I will walk.” _For good._

“That’s – ”

Loki glared daggers.

“…two words,” Tony managed weakly. “Fine. Fine! But if you die, you’re telling Thor coz I ain’t doin’ it.”

“We have a deal,” Loki said merrily.

They made their way down to the ground floor and braved through the barricade of bodyguards toward the waiting car outside, but Tony turned around just as he was about to enter the passenger’s seat. “But we’re staying put, you hear me? I’m putting us into lockdown, effective immediately. No going out of the house until we’ve nabbed this guy.”

He grinned. Perhaps there was some good to come out of this after all. “No complaining now, Odinson.”

Loki’s only offering was a tense smile. His body was on high alert, his senses tingling. He could not afford a repeat occurrence of the day’s event.

They led dangerous lives, both Tony and him. But Loki had never come this close to losing the man as he did today, and he knew not if it was the near-death experience on his part or the realisation that Tony Stark was the one thing he could not bear to lose that was rattling him so.

“You coming, Bambi?”

On second thought, maybe the former, Loki thought viciously as he ducked into the car. He could do away with all these silly nicknames, that was for sure. As the car rolled down the streets of Manhattan, Loki fought to maintain an outer façade of calm while his nerves wreaked havoc on his insides, twisting his stomach into knots.

Tony must have noticed, for not a moment later, a hand gently grasped his.

“Hey. Things will be okay,” he dimly heard Tony say. “We’ve gotten through worse. All of us.”

Loki nodded, but he could not shake the feeling that things were not only not okay, they were only going to get worse.

And his intuition had never failed him, not in the thousand years he had lived.

“You’re right,” he lied. “You’re absolutely right.”

Walking into their shared penthouse some fifteen minutes later, Loki finally felt it safe to take a full, satisfying breath. The business with the police and the detectives had taken up a good chunk of the mid-morning and now it was high noon.

“What’s this?”

“A courier dropped it moments before you arrived, Sir. It was brought up with your express permission," JARVIS answered.

“Really?” Tony peered into the elegant carrier bag. His eyes brightened upon recognising its content. “Oh yes. Boy, she sure works fast.”

“Who?” Loki planted his fine behind on one of the kitchen bar stools.

“Nobody.” Tony carefully fished the box out and held it out. “Have one. You’ll love it, I promise.”

“What’s this?” Loki looked at the box suspiciously.

“Truffles. I had them flown in from France especially for you.”

“I’m not really hungry.”

“You love chocolate.”

“I do. Just not right now.”

Tony sighed. He knew full well what anxiety could do to someone, and in Loki, it was textbook. The first thing to go was always his appetite, then his sleep.

“Loki. You haven’t eaten all day. It’s going to take me a while to whip us up a proper lunch so you might as well have a snack.”

“Stop treating me like a child and maybe I will,” Loki grumbled but he accepted the box anyway. He liked opening gifts and this one was wrapped in shiny golden paper. Like everything else Tony Stark had bought him in the short time they’d been together, it looked expensive. For Midgardian standards.

 _La Maison du Chocolat,_ the gold embossed letters read.

Loki chose one that was supposedly made with fine champagne cognac. It sounded disgusting but the execution was beautiful; the truffles really were a sight, each of them exquisite and obviously painstakingly handmade.

He popped it into his mouth and chewed slowly.

“How is it?”

Loki shrugged. _Meh_. “Not bad.”

"You elitist snob.” Tony rolled his eyes and poured them both tall glasses of water. “How does aubergine penne arrabbiata sound?”

“Delicious.” Loki cracked a smile that did not quite reach his eyes.

Tony spent the next few minutes getting his mise en place ready, quickly losing himself in his thoughts.

He was no stranger to danger, but the implication was the same every time; it did not matter who it was that had put this bounty on his head, only that Tony Stark must get to him first.

It did not matter if Loki was invincible. It mattered that Loki got hurt, protecting _him_.

Tony gripped the edge of the kitchen counter, finally feeling the full force of his anger rising.

Boiling water began to spit on the backsplash, jolting him out of his reverie.

“Tony,” Loki called quietly.

“I got it, Games.” Tony hurriedly turned down the dial a notch. It could wait, he decided. The heavy thinking could wait. He may need to call up some old friends and put a few heads together, maybe Banner, Rhodey definitely.

For now, all he needed to do was concentrate and hope he had something edible to serve at the end. Ordering in would have been easier, but Loki’s exacting palate was legendary. Tony Stark had done more cooking since they started seeing each other than in all the previous years of his life combined.

“Tony,” Loki called again, his voice sounding more strained this time.

“Hmm?” Tony turned in the middle of pouring the dried pasta into the pot and his heart stuttered. “Loki?”

Loki’s naturally pale face had gone deathly white, as white as the knuckles fisting his stomach.

Tony slammed the bag of pasta on the counter, sending penne flying in all direction. He made his way hurriedly around the kitchen island, but not before Loki toppled off the bar stool and crashed onto the floor.

_“Loki!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh, I've got it bad for this pairing now. Oh dear, oh dear.


	2. Chapter 2

“Loki. _Loki.”_

Loki could hear somebody calling, but whoever it was, he or she might as well be a thousand miles away. The one thing he hated more than anything was disturbed sleep. Rest had never come easily to him and whoever it was slapping his cheek was in danger of becoming permanently maimed.

There was a very peculiar pain in his belly; to wake up would be to give it mind and a name. Excruciating did not begin to describe it.

“Come on, baby, open your eyes.”

He moaned, cursing his existence. 

The fire gnawing at his stomach was relentless, reaching a crescendo that obliterated all coherent thoughts save for

_Tony. Tony._

“Loki!”

Had it not been for the panic in Tony’s voice, Loki would have preferred to remain where he was for just a bit longer, acutely aware of the pain increasing in intensity with each passing second with the forced return of his consciousness.

He finally pushed his way through the last barrier, his vision a tangle of red, hazy cobwebs. “Tony.”

It was a terrible, terrible idea, waking up. It was one that came to a head in the form of a terrible, terrible decision, he realised that now; as he stared on in horror, crackling marble-like tendrils began to spread throughout his body.

All autonomy over his seidr lost, Loki’s magic lashed out wildly and sent loose items, pieces of furniture not soldered to the floor barrelling into the walls. 

“Loki!” Tony shouted, ducking just in time to avoid a head-on collision with a vintage brass lamp. “Something I should know?”

“You need to get out of here,” Loki gasped.

“What are you, crazy? I’m not leaving you!”

“I c-can’t control this for much longer.” Loki was shaking violently now. “Tony, you need to go.”

A panel unit made of solid granite ripped off its hinges and would have clipped him in the head as it flew across the room had it not been for the magic lasso that came out of nowhere.

“Honestly…” A new voice sighed. “What is it with you people?”

“Strange?” Tony desperately looked up and around for the source of the voice; it was hard to tell its origin amid the howling gale of hot wind. “Strange, is that y – ”

A raw, inhuman scream ripped itself free from Loki’s throat.

Tony’s vision blurred from the whiteout and his skin prickled from the intense heat, all the hairs standing on end from the surge of kinetic energy in the air.

 _This is it,_ Tony thought dimly even as he pressed on his chest to activate the nanoparticles a little too late. Suited up or not, he was in the heart of a cosmic explosion.

_This is how I die._

Green flames erupted from Loki’s body like a supernova.

When Tony opened his eyes again, all he could see was red, suffocating and all-consuming.

He could not breathe. He began to gasp.

“Snap out of it, Stark,” someone barked.

Tony swatted the heavy fabric wildly away from his face. “Get your cape out of my face!”

“You’re welcome,” Stephen said tersely, roughly hoisting him off the floor. The Sorcerer Supreme’s usually immaculate hair looked dishevelled and there were scorch marks on his blue tunic.

Tony looked down at himself. He was relatively unscathed despite being only half-armoured. The magical backlash had flung him all the way across the living room and had it not been for the Cloak of Levitation, he would have taken the full brunt of the hit. “Loki?”

“Knocked out.”

Tony peered over his friend’s shoulder. Loki lay unmoving in a circle of dying fire.

“What are you doing here?” Tony asked thickly.

He lurched forward, almost stumbling on his own feet to avoid stepping on the remnant flames on the carpet, which had remained strangely undamaged. He needed to make sure Loki was okay. “We didn’t call you.”

“No one ever does,” Stephen muttered darkly. “To answer it simply, your boyfriend here set my sensors off. Again.”

Tony fell to his knees. To his great relief, Loki was still breathing, albeit shallowly.

“I don’t think it’s such a good idea to move him just yet.”

Ignoring Stephen completely, Tony snaked his arms under Loki’s armpits, but even with his suit on, lifting Loki off the floor was still a struggle. Finally, Stephen reluctantly stepped forward to help and together, they laid the unconscious Asgardian out on the coach.

“He is not safe here.”

“There is no safer place for him than here,” Tony countered with a furious glare. “There is a maniac out there. I’m going to find him. Until then your body recovery mission will simply have to wait. Loki’s not dead.”

“This is not about that,” Stephen growled.

Tony pushed past his friend and his heart jumped at the sight of the box of chocolates. He had thought it destroyed in the blast.

“What happened?”

“That is the million-dollar question,” Tony said tightly. “I made him eat one of these and shortly after, he keeled over.”

“An allergic reaction?” Unlikelihood aside, Stephen’s first guess was a knee-jerk response, being the methodical thinker and former doctor that he was.

“I’m no doctor but I don’t think allergies would turn anyone into a walking bomb.”

Stephen was glad he brought it up. “Loki is like a wounded animal. He is in great distress. All this – ” he waved a hand around, “ - is his magic lashing out. If he can’t get it under control, it will kill us all.”

He hesitated, “If it doesn’t, the final death will make sure of it.”

“What do you mean the final death?” A sick realisation dawned on Tony. “You’re not here to help at all, are you? You’re here to put him down, like a fucking dog.”

“Stark.”

“No, you don’t go around talking crazy shit like that and expect me not to react,“ Tony hissed. “I know you don’t care much for him, none of you do, I get that, but this is – you’re the lowest of the low.”

“That is not what this is about, and you know it,” Stephen snapped. “Do you know what happens when a sorcerer dies, Stark?”

At the stunned look on Tony’s face, he continued, “Yeah, you heard me. His seidr is his life force, and right now his control’s gone to shit. If we don’t do something about it and he checks out, the fallout will be equivalent to a small nuclear explosion that will take you and everyone within a ten-mile radius with him.”

“What are you talking about?” Tony gesticulated wildly. “It’s all just an illusion. Look around you!”

“We’re in the Mirror Dimension, Tony. Whatever happens in here does not affect the real world.”

Tony gripped his forehead in frustration. “What is the situation here, Strange?”

“Best case scenario? He will raze this place to the ground.”

A hysterical guffaw clawed its way out of Tony’s constricted chest. “Been there, done that. A house is a house is a house. Remember Malibu?”

“Except we’re not in Malibu, are we?” Stephen said flatly. “We are in the middle of the most populated city in the country.”

He stole a glance in Loki’s direction, his voice dropping to a hush. “If it comes to that…I can’t guarantee the Mirror Dimension will hold.”

“You are not taking him.” Tony’s eyes hardened. “I know the things they do to those you consider threats. You will not have him.”

“I am not here to take him, you idiot. Believe it or not, I am here to _help_ him.” With a look of disgust, Stephen wrenched his arm out of Tony’s grip and approached the figure writhing on the couch.

“Loki.”

Loki’s eyes were closed but unsurprisingly, it did not hinder his senses. “Twice in a day, Doctor. I’d say this constitutes stalking.”

“How earth-shatteringly amusing.” Stephen went down on one knee, taking in the cyanosed pallor and tetanic spasms gripping Loki’s body with each outburst of rampant seidr. “What’s going on?”

“I seem to have ingested some sort of poison.”

“Fell for the oldest trick in the book, didn’t you.”

“Pretty face, pretty box. It’s been a few centuries since the last one, so I had it coming, I suppose.”

Loki’s gaze reluctantly shifted to somewhere over Stephen’s shoulder.

“Is it fatal?” This time Stephen spoke in Latin.

“It will be,” Loki answered quietly, switching to Latin to follow suit. Tony must not be a part of the conversation.

“Do you recognise it? The toxin?”

“It is one that does not exist in the natural world. If it does, I have never come across it.” Loki shuddered as another violent cramp ripped through his abdomen, his paper-white face taking on a greyish tinge. “I am having…difficulties purging it.”

“Will somebody tell me what is going on before I totally lose it and hurt somebody?” Tony’s lips barely moved, his rage contained by the skin of his teeth.

“He doesn’t recognise the poison. You are looking for a synthetic toxin, very possibly manufactured in a laboratory and directly incorporated into the food.”

A whimper followed by a wet, rattling cough had Tony pushing past the noxious miasma of wild magic and lifting Loki’s upper body to help him breathe. 

“I _hurt_ , Tony,” Loki grimaced, baring teeth slick with what could only be blood.

“Shhh,” Tony’s eyes prickled. It was one thing to see Loki unconscious, it was another to watch him slowly drown in his own blood. “It’s going to be okay.”

Stephen’s mind was racing. “Can you pinpoint to a single spot where it hurts the most?”

Loki shook his head.

“All over?”

At the feverish nod, Stephen positioned himself at the head of the couch and placed his fingertips against Loki’s temples.

“What are you doing? The pain’s in his belly, not his head!”

“You’re making too much noise, Stark, none of it helpful,” Stephen said lightly. “Visceral pain is relayed to the brain somewhat differently from somatic pain. If my deduction is correct...”

He focused his magic on isolating the pain receptors connecting the brain and the gut. “The prefrontal cortex, and the anterior cingulate cortex in particular should be the main nociceptive processors.”

“Not everyone here’s a neurosurgeon, Strange.”

Stephen muted all distraction around him as he waited out the seconds, gauging the Asgardian’s reaction for some kind of response.

After a few tense minutes, the lines of pain on Loki’s face smoothened, and they all took a collective breath of respite.

“There. That should numb the pain for a while. Should buy us some time.”

“What did you do?” Tony’s armoured gauntlet disappeared, revealing his dress shirt underneath.

“In tech terms? I short-circuited the neurophysiological pathways that relay pain signals to the brain.”

Stephen winced as he watched Tony wipe the blood trickling down Loki’s chin with his pristine white sleeve. “But only temporarily. The brain’s a complex organ, and I suspect more so if you happen to be an alien from outer space.”

He plucked a handkerchief out of thin air and handed it to Tony. “And we still haven’t gotten rid of the poison. The pain _will_ come back.”

“Wonderful,” Loki sighed.

Tony’s sharp eyes caught the subtle change in Stephen’s thoughtful demeanour. “What are you planning to do, Doctor?”

“Channel dimensional energy to heal the body,” Stephen answered right of the bat. “But first I need to know where it’s broken, don’t I? Except...it’s not just your body, is it?”

He looked at his fingertips, green-hued and smarting with overspilled seidr. “This might get complicated.”

“You don’t say,” Loki murmured.

“You are a shapeshifter, yes?” Stephen asked quietly. “You are able to manipulate the configuration of your cells, rearrange the building blocks to suit the form you wish to take on?”

Loki nodded.

“Down to the molecular level?”

“If need be.”

“Then I need you to seek out the poison from within you, from your blood, your liver, your spleen – every last drop. Coalesce it all so we can expunge it. Can you do that?”

Loki gave an equivocal wobble of the head, but his glassy eyes were asking a different question. _We?_

“I will help you. You can feel it, can’t you? It is poisoning your seidr. You will not be able to do this without outside help.”

His expression neutral, Stephen then went on to ask the most important question. “Do you consent?”

‘Yes’ warred with ‘no’ as uncertainty battled with his pride. Loki knew what consenting would entail. He would be completely at this sorcerer’s mercy, in body and in spirit.

“You will not be harmed. You have my word,” Stephen said with a gentleness never displayed before. He, of all people, knew full well what was at stake and why Loki was hesitating.

“Why?” Glazed green eyes met blue-grey ones, kinder than Loki had ever seen them.

“Loki,” Tony growled warningly.

Loki ignored his lover. “Why would you help me?”

“Because that’s what he does, you idiot! What we _all_ do!” Tony’s chest heaved. “Now get over yourself and say yes, dammit!”

Tuning Tony out, Loki closed his eyes. He was so tired.

Now that the pain had receded somewhat, he could feel just how untethered his magic was, the threads holding his life force together frayed and brittle.

With the surrender of his body and his magic, all he would have left was his mind. Despite this, Loki knew there was no strength left in him to hold on to even that.

His mind was the one place he had only recently regained control of, he was not going to relinquish it, not to anyone, not for anyone.

“Loki, please.” He felt the brush of someone’s lips against his. "I’ll never ask for anything again.”

_You’re tired._

“Careful, Stark.” The taste of desperation on his tongue was exquisite; it washed away the tang of blood, leaving behind a bittersweet note of despair. “You’re trading on sentiment.”

_Just let go._

Shush, Loki pleaded with the inner voice; he had grown weary of it. Negotiating with the saner part of oneself was only of prospective value when both parties were entitled to a favourable outcome, if not exclusive victory to the one more in need.

And now Loki needed to fight, if he wanted to live.

“You have my consent, Doctor.”

Tony’s relief was palpable. Loki had to smile. _Not for anyone, huh?_

“Do you wish to be put to sleep?” Stephen repositioned his hand to cup the base of Loki’s skull surprisingly gently. “This is your brainstem. I can put you into an induced coma or at least, a state of sedation.”

“No. I wish to remain awake.” Loki held Tony’s gaze. “For as long as I can.”

The hard line of Tony’s lips quivered.

“I’m here, I’m here!”

“Bruce?” Tony squinted at the person who had just walked into the room. He turned to Stephen. “You called him?”

“It was I who got into contact with Dr Banner, Sir. I hope it was not presumptuous of me to do so.”

Tony could not be happier at the sight of the physicist. He had been so preoccupied with Loki that it only occurred to him that he would need Bruce, the proud holder of PhDs, scientist extraordinaire.

“Presume away, J. If you were corporeal I’d give you a kiss and a raise.”

“That will not be necessary, Sir.”

Stephen unsealed a section of the Mirror Dimension to form a makeshift doorway. “Go,” he urged.

“You got this?” Tony’s longing look did not go unnoticed.

“Go,” Stephen urged again. “I’ll take care of him, Tony.”

Tony nodded curtly. He clapped Stephen once on the shoulder. Only upon stepping out of the Mirror Dimension that he remembered he had not said goodbye to Loki – he turned around and instantly felt a crushing disappointment.

Stephen and Loki were no longer visible to the naked eye, shrouded in the secrecy of another world, a world that was effectively closed to him now.

“Tony!” Bruce’s mouth fell open. “How on earth – where the hell did you come from?”

Shaking off his devastation, Tony gave Bruce a tight smile. “Hey, buddy. JARVIS filled you in?”

“Yeah, said something about a parcel and poison and – ” Bruce scrutinised the stiff line of his friend’s shoulders. “You and Loki alright?”

Tony ignored the question. He nodded instead at the box of chocolates on the kitchen island. It took him all of five seconds to realise what was amiss.

If he had not been so distracted, he would have noticed.

“Someone’s tampered with this.”

He would have remembered that the truffles were never individually wrapped. He would have remembered, and Loki wouldn’t have –

 _No._ Tony closed his eyes and took a deep breath to centre himself. Lamenting in self-pity was not going to help.

“I would advise against touching or imbibing anything, Sir.”

“Shut up, J.” Tony picked one up and peeled the clear plastic wrapping right off. The sweet, oaky smell of cognac, once tantalising, now only made Tony’s stomach turn. “Yeah, this shouldn’t smell so strongly of brandy either. It’s masking something.”

“JARVIS. Tip the press. Spread the word that Tony Stark has been struck by a mysterious illness,” Tony said distantly. “In fact, tell them – tell them he’s dying.”

“What are you thinking, Tony?” Bruce asked warily.

“I need to lure them out. What do people do when they’ve achieved something, or think they have? They celebrate.” Tony headed for the door. “Come on. We’ve got work to do.”

*******************

“I’ve got it,” Bruce said. He could hardly contain his excitement as he ripped the safety goggles off his face. Tony shot out of his seat and ran to where Bruce was sitting, waving his print-out eagerly.

“At first I ran it through the chemical analyser but that came up empty. Then I ran another sample through the mass spectograph to see if I could isolate any trace or ultra-trace elemental impurities and guess what I found?”

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose. “Today’s not the day, Bruce.”

“Thallium.”

“Thallium?”

“Yes. The poisoner’s poison, quite popular back in the day as a murder weapon. In soluble form, it is tasteless and highly toxic.”

“How does one get their hands on this thallium?” Where did he need to start looking? Where, here? In France?

“It’s not found free in nature. Commercially, it’s a by-product of refining sulfide ores, mostly used in electronics…and pharmaceuticals.”

Tony froze.

He forced himself to breathe. “Is there an antidote? Tell me there’s an antidote. I just need one win today, _please_ let there be one.”

“As a matter of fact, yes. Prussian blue.”

“Prussian blue as in cyanotypes, that Prussian blue?” Tony’s mouth fell open. “Like my dad’s old blueprint drawings?”

“The very same. Although in hospitals it should be in capsule form. Strange should know where to get it.”

“J.”

“I will inform Doctor Strange immediately, Sir.”

******************

“Paul Haldane. Boy, the press is going to have a field day once I’m done with you.”

“Stark?” The elderly man took a moment to recover from his initial surprise. “I thought – I heard you were sick, I was just about to call and ask how you were.”

“Enough with the act, Paul,” Tony said. “I know everything.”

Paul shook his head, a look of utter confusion on his face.

“What would the world say when they hear that the CEO of one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the country is about to go away for attempted murder?”

Paul’s face turned ashen. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You were the first to call me after the shooting incident,” Tony recalled. “How did you know? Did you have me followed? Did you bug my office?”

Before he knew it, Tony had his business partner up against the wall.

He should have known. Never mind that Paul Haldane was an old friend of his dad; if Obadiah Stane could play him for a fool, what was stopping the others?

“Then you called and found out I was still alive. Covered it up by suggesting we move the vote to next week. Now we both know proxy voting isn’t allowed, so you tried to have me killed. Again.”

“I swear, Tony, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“And thallium, _really?_ Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”

“Tony, thallium hasn’t been around for decades. We haven’t touched it since the government banned it for commercial use back in the seventies.” Paul tried to dislodge Tony’s fingers from around his collar. “But, uh, if you’re really looking for it, I’m sure you can still get it off the internet – ”

“Then who?” Tony raged. “If not you, who?”

“I don’t know!” Paul yelled, yanking his lapels out of Tony’s grasp. “Jesus fuck, Stark, get a hold of yourself!”

A team of security personnel rushed into the room, but Paul held out a hand.

“You were never on my side,” Tony realised. “Well, guess what, buddy. Profiteering’s not my game anymore, so if you think you can get me to change my mind, you can forget about it.”

“I seconded the damn motion, Tony.”

“Doesn’t mean you supported it.”

“Of course it doesn’t!” Paul’s voice rose. “You made a motion to waive the patent altogether! A motion that if passed would put the drug on the market for pennies!”

He shoved Tony off of him, sending Tony stumbling backward, “Years of hard work, millions of dollars down the drain and all for what? To appease Tony Stark’s new-found conscience?”

He stabbed a finger in Tony’s chest. “You may be one of the biggest shareholders, Stark, but did you know that the rest of the board members were going to file an injunction on you? Barring that, call for a vote of no confidence against you? Buy you out, oust you altogether?”

Paul’s tone softened. “Look. I get it. I read the news. I know your history. Artelane has the potential to help a lot of people. People like you who are still…struggling.”

“This is not about me,” Tony said tightly.

“We’re not responsible for your moral compass, Stark. But we’re not murderers, either.”

Lost for words, Tony’s shoulders sagged as all fight left him. A part of him still wanted to believe that Paul was guilty, but deep down inside, he knew Paul was telling the truth. 

Paul nodded at his men. “Gentlemen, please escort Mr Stark out of the building.”

**************

“Pepper, it’s me.”

“Tony! I was just about to call.” She sounded breathless as though she had been running. “I heard about Loki. Is he okay?”

“I don’t know,” Tony said tightly. He could not afford to think about Loki right now, not when he was back at square one. “Pepper, I need your help.”

“Anything, Tony,” she said worriedly. “Just name it.”

“Do you remember my secretary?”

Pepper’s voice turned wary. “Which one?”

“Valid question. My old one. The one you fired.” Tony tried to recall her name, “Sally? Sandy?”

“Sandra? The one who turned out to be a mole for Linlithgow Arms & Avionics?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. After Nat, before Carly.”

“Kathy. Yeah, she’s here, crying her heart out. Said she knew nothing about sending poison in a parcel.”

“You’re in my office?”

“I’ve known you for decades, Tony. I am and will always be ten steps ahead of you.” He heard the sounds of someone clicking rapidly on the keyboard. “I am just about to go through the CCTV footage for today – ”

“No, not today. Go back to the day Carly placed the order for me.”

_“Kathy.”_

“I think it was Monday last week, La Maison always flies their truffles in the next day.”

“How romantic. How come _I_ never got expensive French truffles?”

“Thought you were allergic to chocolate.”

“I’m allergic to strawberries, you asshole and you...are pulling my leg.”

“Love ya, Pep.”

“Uhuh.” He could hear her roll her eyes. “Okay, it’s coming up now...”

“Beam it to me.”

Tony put her on speaker, before pressing play on the video file.

Five minutes into the video,“You left your desk here, where did you go?”

“That would have been around the time for my lunch break, Mr Stark.”

True enough, a quick fast-forward later showed a familiar figure sneaking her way into the office.

“Got you, Sandy.” Tony felt a rush of elation at the second big break.

“I’ll be damned…how did she get in?” Pepper’s voice shrilled. “Any idea what she could have done?”

“Someone must have paid her for intel,” Tony deduced. “My bet is she was looking into any recent personal purchase made online. That was how they knew I would have a parcel coming.”

“Why? What was her motive? Unlawful termination?”

“Was it unlawful?”

Pepper scoffed, “She’s lucky we didn’t press charges for insider trading. There was simply not enough evidence at the time, but I can assure you, the companies that benefited from her foray in corporate espionage was not Linlithgow Arms alone.”

“What do you mean? I haven’t been in the loop for so long, you gotta fill me in.”

“Of course you haven’t. You’re too busy traipsing around the world with your new fancy man.”

“I told you I have no interest whatsoever – that's all boring CEO business! Now tell me what I need to know.”

“Linlithgow has a few known business partners here in America.”

“Anybody we know?” _Or out to get us?_ Tony left the implicit insinuation unspoken; Pepper had always been very good at filling in the blanks.

“No major players, some even turned out to be shell companies. I’m sending you a file with all the names and company profiles.”

“Thanks, Pepper.”

“Sure thing.” An awkward pause. “I’m so sorry, Tony. I’m sure Loki’s going to be fine.”

“You didn’t see him, Potts.”

“I’m always here if you need me,” she said firmly.

Tony had never been able to withstand Pepper’s arsenal of secret methods of making Tony talk, and he was not setting himself up for a nervous breakdown. Not before he figured out a way to save Loki’s life.

Luckily, another call came in and saved him from all the awkwardness.

“Happy.” _Please have something for me._ “Happy, talk to me.”

“You were right, Boss. Someone intercepted the parcel when the courier guy was on his way to your place, swapped it and paid him off so he wouldn’t talk.” Happy then finished somewhat proudly, “I made him talk.”

“Did he say who it was?”

“No. Said the guy didn’t give his name.”

“Did he give a description, at least?”

“Even better. He’s got dash cam footage.”

“Send it to me.”

“Uh, just gimme a second – ” There was a muffled conversation, followed by the suspicious sound of somebody tinkering with electronics and not having a single clue what he was doing. “How do I – hey punk, which button do I press?”

“Anytime today, Happy.”

“You know I’m not good with this kind of thing, Tony, just give me one second, jeez.” A few curses later, “Bluetooth?”

“I’m miles away, how the hell are you going to Bluetooth the – you know what? Let me talk to the kid.”

A fruitful conversation later, Tony was watching the footage from his phone when a chill suddenly ran down his spine. 

“I’ve seen him. I’ve seen this guy before.”

Tony’s narcissistic side had never seen his anomic aphasia as a handicap before; he met tons of people on a daily basis and to remember all their names seemed such a waste of cerebral space. Now he could not stop berating himself as he tried to recall what was perhaps never there in the first place.

_But where?_

“JARVIS.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Do me a favour and tap the Oracle grid for me. I’m going to send you the names of a few companies and I need to see if any of them stands out.”

“Cross-reference them with any documented dealings they’ve had in the past with Stark Industries. And all our major competitors.”

“Competitors, Sir?”

“Call it a hunch.”

When things went right, the universe went right all the way with you.

“There was a subsidiary company specialising in small arms and light weapons that had expressed interest in a merger with Stark Industries but Miss Potts vetoed against it after you made it publicly known that it was no longer in line with the direction of the company, Sir.”

“Was?”

“It is now defunct.”

For some reason, Tony’s heart began to pound. This was heading somewhere, he could feel it –

“Do we know the name of the parent company?”

“Yes, Sir. The parent company is the company formerly known as Hammer Industries.”

“Fuck me.”

***************

_Seagate Penitentiary_

“You just don’t stay dead, do you.”

Justin Hammer stood stock-still at the door.

“Hello, Justin. Missed me?”

A look of disgust flickered across Justin’s face at the double entendre. “This is why I hate fake news. Now I’m out of cigars to hand out to my mates.”

Tony’s jaw twitched. He found this apathetic, lackadaisical version of Justin Hammer a far cry from the obsequious copycat he once was, but no less vexing. “Your guy’s in custody for attempted murder. Sooner or later, he’s gonna talk, and you’re done.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Jack Whitehall. He was your PA, wasn’t he? That’s why he looked so familiar. He was with you when we met back in Monaco.”

“Monaco?” Justin sniffed. “I don’t remember Monaco. Oh wait. Yeah, I do remember. You had your ass kicked in Monaco.”

“By the same Soviet physicist who ended up betraying you and sending your ass to prison, yes.”

“Jack…Jack…” Justin made a show of trying to remember, “Can’t help you there, buddy.”

“We know you had a hand in busting Ivan Vanko out of prison, and that you left a dead body inside his prison cell as decoy.”

Tony knew he was playing a dangerous game. He had spent years underestimating Justin Hammer, but now sitting in front of him…there was no doubt in Tony’s mind.

This was someone who was capable of murder, as long as he got to keep his clean hands afterward.

“Why you gotta go and dig up old stories, man…” Justin slouched forward. “Hey. Haven’t seen your face in Forbes in a while. Business not doing too good?”

“I’ve got a new gig now. I fight aliens, if you can believe it.”

“And sleeping with one too, I heard.”

Tony began to see red.

A cloud of cigarette smoke billowed, obscuring Justin’s ugly mug.

That punch to the face would have to wait.

“Lucky you!” Justin exclaimed. “Yeah…you’ve always had everything handed to you on a silver platter, haven’t you, Tony?”

“As did you,” Tony said coolly. “Typical rich boy who thought he was big enough to play with Daddy’s toys.”

“Oh, you mean my family money? That’s all gone now,” Justin admitted readily. “The family too.”

A forlorn look fell over his face, “Yeah…no family. No company. To think that I was slated for the Pentagon once.”

Justin lifted a finger. “No, no, I know what you’re gonna say, that I’m delusional, I’m a pathetic little man without a single shred of talent – ”

He blew a raspberry. “Whatever, man. One minute I had it all, the next I’m in a cell, taking beating after beating for just being friendly little me.”

Tony’s expression remained unchanged.

“What, you think things like that don’t happen in a white collar prison? Come on, man.”

Justin took a long, deep drag of his cigarette. “But I digress. I didn’t used to smoke but this place does things to you, you know? Changes you. Makes a man out of you.”

“Enjoy it while you can, Hammer. It won’t last long.”

“Doesn’t matter where they send me.” Justin dusted an invisible lint off his shirt sleeve. “I’ve got something you don’t.”

“Yeah? And what’s that?”

“Friends in low places,” Justin said easily. “You wanna know the advice I once gave Ivan Vanko when I wanted to hire him? I told him not to kill you. Told him he should kill your legacy instead. If there’s one thing I don’t regret doing, it was that.”

“I don’t give a fuck about your legacy, not anymore. I give a fuck that you’re alive. Sure, I wish you were dead, I mean that was the whole point of the – ” Justin gestured with his hands something alluding to an explosion, “ – and the – ” he pointed a finger gun at Tony’s face, “- after all.”

“But you know what they say. If at first you don’t succeed…”

He leaned back in his chair with a smug expression. There was no doubt he was congratulating himself for exercising restraint by not saying anything self-incriminating. “So who ate the chocolate? I do hope it wasn’t our lovely Miss Potts.”

“I owe you one, Hammer.” Tony’s lips curled ever so slightly at the edges. His knuckles were white against the black of his pants under the table. “I will pay you back in full. You can bet your _life_ on it.”

Justin leaned forward slowly, a lazy smile breaking across his face.

“Whatcha gonna do, Stark? You can’t touch me. I’m already in prison.”

The lazy smile turned malicious. “But my mind is as free as ever. And it’s _bored_.”

Triumphant, he pushed his chair back with a screeching sound, followed by a loud click as the prison guard unlocked the interview room.

The audience was over.

With one last parting wink, Justin Hammer gave his former rival-turned-arch enemy an easy grin.

“See ya.”

***************

Tony returned to an empty apartment, ominous and dark. There was no sign of either Strange or Loki. For a wild second he thought the worst, only regaining his grip on reality when the lights in the kitchen suddenly came on.

He read the note left by Stephen and pocketed the bottle of pills left on the counter. He took the stairs toward the bedroom two at a time, his heart a thousand times lighter.

The room was dark, save for a sliver of moonlight that slipped past the blinds. A lone figure lay in the middle of the bed, as pale as a ghost.

“Did you get him?”

“We got him.”

A shaky sigh of relief. “So it’s over.”

“Yeah.” Tony carefully sat on the edge of the bed. And since a lie sounded better when said twice, “Yeah, it’s over.”

“I hope you did not have to kill anyone.”

Loki’s voice still sounded so weak. Tony boldly picked one of Loki’s hands. It was no longer as perishingly cold as it had been when Tony left, and some of the knots in his stomach loosened.

“Nah. Just some solid detective work, along with the help of some very good friends.” He pressed a soft kiss to the back of Loki’s hand. “Bruce, Pepper, Happy. Stephen. They all came through for you.”

“They came through for _you_.” Loki nuzzled his head against Tony’s thigh. “I was just...lucky. For once.”

“For someone so smart, you say some really dumb stuff sometimes.”

With a huff, Loki pulled away and in a valiant show of strength, attempted to push himself up onto his elbows.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Stretching my legs?”

“You don’t need to, they’re long enough. Your fine ass needs to stay in bed.”

No longer clouded with pain, Loki’s green eyes were as clear as sapphires. “And if my fine ass says ‘no’?”

“It’s going to have a chat with someone. Tall, blond and sparky. Remember him?”

Loki sniffed. "Please look for other exciting methods to blackmail me. Methods that do not involve my brother. Originality has its merits."

But he halted his ascent, knowing Tony was in the right to make true on his words. “May I sit up at least, or is that a notifiable offence too?”

“Only if you agree to take these.” Tony shook the pill bottle with a jingle. “Strange says you have to take them three times a day for the next one week.”

“Since when do you listen to him?”

“Since the day he saved the love of my life.”

“Stark.”

“You don’t have to say anything, Lokes. I mean, you can, if you want to. But I don’t expect you to reciprocate. Coz that’s not why I said it.”

Tony laid himself down on the bed, propping his head up with an elbow. He studied the tired lines of his lover’s face. He could just be imagining things, but Loki looked like he had aged overnight.

“You scared the hell out of me, Games.”

“I do so like keeping lovers on their toes,” Loki said finally, the twinkle in his eyes belying the haughty tone of his voice.

Tony laughed, letting the tears come as an avalanche of emotions washed over him : frustration, terror and sheer relief all mingled together, unabashed and unravelled.

He hugged Loki’s head to his chest tightly, as if to reaffirm his physical presence was not just a phantom.

Then he frowned. “Wait a second. When you say lovers, you mean lovers in general, right?”

Tony lifted his head off the pillow to peer into Loki’s face. “Like ‘O Mistress mine, where are you roaming, Journeys end in lovers meeting’ lovers?”

“You’re reciting poetry. That’s a first.”

“Lovers. As in...plural.”

“Missed a couple of lines, though.”

“Plural as in more than one.”

“As a Shakespeare purist, I should be furious -”

“More than me.” Devastation flooded him like a tidal wave.

“- but I’m not,” Loki finished. It was high time he wrapped things up and merged the two conversations into one dialogue before anyone did something not very clever, like professing eternal love or worse, crying.

It was high time he stopped teasing.

“There is only one of me at any one time, Tony.”

“Please translate that for the rest of us who don’t speak Loki, sweet cheeks.” Tony’s heart was thumping away against his rib cage like a drum. “What does that mean?”

“It means only me,” Loki said serenely. “Only you.”

Tony stared into Loki’s eyes, their depth as unfathomable as ever.

“Can’t believe I almost killed you.”

“You fool.” Loki touched their foreheads together. “You _saved_ me.”

Tony shook his head, clearly at a loss. 

“You give me something to come back to.” Loki caught Tony’s lips and kissed him gently. And kissed him again. And again.

“It’s _you.”_

Tony grabbed the sides of Loki’s face. “Swear to me.”

_Only me._

If ever there was an angel on Earth, Tony was looking at it.

“I swear.”

_Only you._

_FIN_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A sequel? Yes?


End file.
